Sex gay list Kinshasa Congo Dem Republic

LGBT rights in the Republic of the Congo

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Legislation had still not been drafted as of the beginning of , however due to the widespread support, it is likely that it will not be forgotten and remains an ever-present threat to the LGBTI society in the Democratic Republic of Congo. No published cases have been found. Society favors the criminalization of homosexuality for it is considered to be taboo, even if not illegal. LGBTI persons are often not open about their sexual orientation because they are denied by society.

Some military and police personnel are still part of the problem, say aid workers, because they enjoy impunity.

U.N. Calls For Actions Against Sex Abuse

Amnesty International has called on the DRC government to take more drastic action against them. Judges at the ICC convicted ex-rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda of crimes against humanity and war crimes. However, most perpetrators will never face justice for their crimes, said Karen Naimer, who leads the programme for sexual violence in conflict for the NGO Physicians for Human Rights. This is precisely why rape is such an effective weapon of war and is used as such so widely. In addition, past sexual violence — used as a means of warfare in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Ivory Coast — continues to take a toll on victims.

For every case that reaches a clinic, there are 10 to 20 that are never reported, she added. In , he founded Panzi Hospital in the city of Bukavu to treat victims of sexual violence. His first patient was a rape survivor whose reproductive organs had been destroyed. Mukwege recounted how in the s, he treated women who had been raped. Today, he is repairing their daughters. These days, his patients are increasingly underage.

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His youngest was just six months old. When this is coupled with the brutality of rape and the trauma that ensues from watching your mother, sister, daughter — and, yes, sometimes your father, brother or son — or other family members be sexually assaulted, it creates a cycle of shame and stigma that is difficult to break without access to compassionate, holistic care.

Twenty years ago, the UN Security Council decided to send a peacekeeping mission to the DRC — to date the largest peacekeeping operation in the world. But it does not seem to have helped much. A few years later, from to , it got even worse. Militiamen kidnapped babies and children in the middle of the night in the eastern village of Kavumu.

After having assaulted them, they left them in the fields surrounding the village. It took three years for these cases to even be investigated.

In November last year, citizens started to demonstrate against the UN peacekeepers in the northeastern city of Beni. On November 25, protestors set fire to some offices at the MONUSCO headquarters, saying the peacekeepers were doing nothing to protect them from rebel attacks. In addition, the UN is currently investigating sexual abuse allegations in its own peace operations in the DRC.

The story of another survivor, Lucia, who did not want to give identifying details such as her real name, age or the name of her village, illustrates the brutality of such attacks.

When it came to taking her photograph, she chose to hide her face with an axe. Like most survivors, she fears threats and revenge.

I went to a wedding with my family in Bunyakiri, and while fetching water from the river, my friends and I were raped. A baby boy was born of this rape, but this child will never know who his father is because they were too many that day to know for sure. These men destroyed my life. Again, rebels attacked the village, but this time Lucia could not even try to run. Despite her physical paralysis, several men raped her that day.

She later gave birth to her second child. My fear, my pain, my despair or the unknowns that are the basis of my misfortune? Many women are raped multiple times. Rebecca, who asked that her last name not be used to protect her privacy, has been unemployed for more than two years. According to an October report from a group of Congolese human rights organizations, the combination of familial and workplace rejection pushes many LGBTI people onto the streets or into prostitution, where they risk becoming victims of violence or contracting HIV.

LGBTI people across DRC are reluctant to seek out medical treatment or report cases of abuse for fear of prejudicial treatment, the report says. Its team members pointedly cite sections of Congolese law pertaining to universal human rights and share details of LGBTI-friendly medical centers and health practitioners.

Congo, Democratic Republic of | Global Information Society Watch

Last year they aired a whole show on destigmatizing condoms, which are often demonized by DRC's conservative cultural mores. According to Bob Yala, director of Congolese nonprofit Secteur Media, radio is a particularly accessible medium for diffusing these kinds of messages in DRC, a country with low internet connectivity, an adult literacy rate around 60 percent and a strong oral tradition.

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This means that radio is often enveloped in a kind of authority and so it can draw on that culture to educate and inform," says Yala, formerly a Radio France Internationale RFI journalist. Children's Radio Foundation also covers the reporters' monthly stipend. Local radio can also empower marginalized people to speak out while retaining anonymity, Yala says. Rebecca, who goes by the pseudonym Seygou on air, says "'Jeuniafrica' is the only place where I can talk openly with people who have the same sexual orientation. People "tell us what we are doing is wrong, that we shouldn't be trying to encourage something that is against the Bible," he says.

He draws hope from the testimony of a listener who said he regretted mistreating his brother, who had come out as gay.

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